TAZ 6 - hardened steel nozzle / hot-end

General LulzBot TAZ
1

Hello,

I have a problem with my TAZ 6. I completely broke the nozzle and the thread stuck into the hotend.
The meterial of choice was CF-ABS.
There is a lot out there for the TAZ 5 but I need to have some recommendations for the TAZ 6 with a Single extruder v. 2.1.
LulzBot is not selling the stock extruder at the moment, so I have to make the changes by myself.
So my questions now are:

  1. What hardened steel nozzle does fit into the “single extruder v 2.1” (http://e3d-online.com/E3D-v6/Extra-Nozzles/V6-Nozzle-Hardened-Steel-3mmx0.6mm)? What diameter do you recommend for printing CF filled material? 0.6mm seems legit?
  2. Is there a Hot-End kit or something like that which will fit?
  3. Any other general recommendations?

Thanks a lot and kind regards.

Carlo.

2

I can answer one question. The E3D nozzles do fit the Hexagon hotend. They are a little longer so you might need to adjust the nozzle wipe gcode if the nozzle tears up the wiper pad to quickly. I am running a V6 nozzle on my Mini which has a similar nozzle wipe feature and I have not needed to adjust the wipe gcode. It works great.

There is a known issue with the Hexagon nozzles fracturing. Lulzbot might replace the broken part under warranty, if you wanted to go that route.

3

If the nozzle is longer then you may encounter issues during a probe fail sequence, where the firmware settings are used to do an additional wipe. That wipe height is not set in the gcode.

4

The E3D nozzle is only 0.5mm longer, and it actually screws in a little more since it does not bottom out on the shoulder.

I had the same thing happen on the 2nd print of a new machine. Lulzbot replaced it under warranty. But I am worried it could happen again.

5

I believe that when the nozzle touches the switch and activates the contacts, that is taken as Z=0 so the longer nozzle barrel length is not noticed. YMMV.

6

So what would you recommend us to do?
I just ordered the nozzle - do I have to change something in the gcode before printing or just try it out?

7

If you would like to contact our sales team, we will be able to sell you a stock TAZ 6 extruder. (970-377-1111 or Sales@lulzbot.com)

We also carry replacement hot ends, which can be swapped into your existing tool head: https://www.lulzbot.com/store/parts/lulzbot-v2-hexagon-hot-end

The way to swap in the hot end will be quite similar to the steps for the TAZ 5, just with an extra fan: OHAI: Open Hardware Assembly Instructions

We hope this helps!

8

Thank you for the answer!
We just bought the replacement hot-end (actually two :slight_smile:).

I want to run one hot-end with the hardened nozzle. Is there an exact procedure how to get it working without trouble (the nozzle)?

9

We don’t recommend replacing the nozzles, as we have found it quite common that damage will happen to the hot end or printer. (Sheared nozzles, broken thermistor/heater cartridge, break the seal between heater block and threaded extension, damage to the electronics board)
Any damage done while changing nozzles would not be covered under your warranty.

There are a couple of great forum posts up, and one of the highest touted is by Sebastian, and if you feel comfortable with the risk/reward aspect it may be worth giving it a shot! https://forum.lulzbot.com/t/howto-change-hexagon-hotend-nozzle/2613/1